View full sizeMatt Rainey/The Star-LedgerA TSA officer awaits a passenger at a checkpoint at Newark Liberty International Airport in 2008.

NEWARK — An agreement on the first contract for the nation’s 44,000 federal airport screeners could be reached by the middle of next week, after substantial strides during the latest round of talks that began early this year, screeners’ union officials said.

Officials said negotiations would resume on Tuesday, after breaking off Saturday at 3 a.m., on a positive, though physically exhausted note.

“I think we will have an agreement by Wednesday afternoon,” said Stacy Bodtman, a transportation security officer at Newark Liberty International Airport, who is one of 12 TSOs or lead TSOs on the union negotiating team. Bodtman is one of about 1,200 screeners in Newark.

The Association of Federation Government Employees union and the Transportation Security Administration are finalizing details on the agency’s first employee contract since the Obama Administration’s TSA administrator, John Pistole, allowed collective bargaining. Although screeners are among the lowest-paid federal workers, pay and issues with a direct impact on security operations are not on the table for this contract.

The TSA declined to characterize the status of the talks, other than to say they were ongoing.

“We continue to work with AFGE on all remaining issues. We will gladly address questions about the content of the agreement when negotiations are complete,” TSA spokeswoman Lisa Farbstein said in a statement.

The current round of talks began on July 8, came under a 30-day extension are an extension

Bodtman said labor and management were “way apart maybe two weeks ago” on a variety of issues, including performance evaluations, sick leave, uniforms, parking, attendance management, scheduling, on-time performance. But by Saturday morning, she said, they had come close to if not arrived at agreements on those and other issues. She said the union is seeking a 3-year deal.

The union team is led by AFGE President John Gage, while the TSA’s lead negotiator is the federal security director at Detroit International Airport, Robert Ball.